Paul Finebaum looks ahead to what's coming next for Northwestern, Pat Fitzgerald

Like the rest of the college football world, Paul Finebaum has turned his attention to Pat Fitzgerald and the Northwestern Wildcats.

Over the last week, Northwestern has been in the news due to hazing allegations inside their football program, and Fitzgerald was suspended for two weeks without pay. However, the Wildcats reversed course, choosing to reconsider Fitzgerald’s penalty as they re-opened their investigation over the weekend.

Joining McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, Finebaum elaborated on his thoughts on the situation, and explained how far he believes it can go.

“Yeah, I mean, sure. I mean, Greg, the first reaction on this is fire him. I mean, that’s always going to be that, because these are so outrageous,” explained Finebaum. “But this is like any case. I mean, why do we have a court system in this country? Because there’s always two sides. And that’s what we have here. Although I think in Pat Fitzgerald’s case, he’s already been given a big break, and that was what happened last week. If anything comes out that can be corroborated, and I think it can. This is no longer a, how much can a newspaper, where it’s a college newspaper or some other publication, get into print, or get into the public domain. This is a university that I’m sure is actively bringing in big guns, big lawyers, big investigators, and now has the spotlight of college sports on them, and I think they’ll get it right the second time.

“They didn’t get it right the first time. I don’t know — there’s no way of knowing what they’re going to find. But yeah, when they sit down and talk to players, players are going to come forward. And don’t read too much into certain players saying certain things. Greg, I’ll never forget covering Mike Price’s hearing, what was it, 15-20 years ago, and hearing Brodie Croyle talk about how he was the greatest guy in the world, and we all found out that he wasn’t. Players on a team are always going to gravitate towards their coach.”

With news coming to light left and right, there’s no telling what will become of Fitzgerald at Northwestern, and what penalties could be in store for the Wildcats. Finebaum recognizes that, and he’s letting the process play out.

Time will tell, but it looks like we’re only at the beginning of what could be a long process at Northwestern.